Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Vegas

The essentials

The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
LAS VEGAS -- The Wild has returned to a familiar spot for the second of its three-game western road trip Thursday when it faces the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.
No visiting arena has seen more of the Wild in 2021 than T-Mobile, where Minnesota played four times during last season's truncated 56-game regular season, then four more times in a First Round playoff series that went the distance.
The game Thursday marks the first of two trips to Sin City over the next month or so. The Wild will return to Las Vegas on Dec. 12 to close out a four-game road trip.
For being one of the toughest places to play in the NHL - and certainly one of the loudest - the Wild has had some success in this building historically, and in 2021.
Overall, Minnesota went 5-1-2 against Vegas in the eight meetings during the regular season, including 2-1-1 in Las Vegas. Both the Wild and Knights won two playoff games at T-Mobile Arena, with the difference coming for Vegas in St. Paul, where it won Games 3 and 4 of the series.
Since Vegas entered the League in 2017, Minnesota leads the NHL in most team points and is tied for first in most wins against Vegas.
Its .781 winning percentage against the Knights is second best.
Minnesota is coming off a 5-2 win against the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday night at Gila River Arena. It was the second consecutive win by that margin for the Wild, but only one person who registered a point for Minnesota on Wednesday also had a point in the win against the Islanders on Sunday (Dmitry Kulikov).
That highlights a trend of balanced scoring for the Wild.

"Any time you're getting contributions from everyone throughout the lineup, it takes the pressure off the top guys," Kulikov said. "You know you can put anyone on the ice and they can do the job."
Marcus Foligno, Kulikov, Kevin Fiala and Kirill Kaprizov also scored goals for the Wild in the win over the Coyotes. Mats Zuccarello and Jared Spurgeon tallied a pair of assists.
"You need a deep team, it makes teams very dangerous I think," said forward Joel Eriksson Ek, who scored Minnesota's first goal in Arizona. "Knowing every night you have lines that can step up and be that line that really wins the game for our team."
Wild blueliners combined for one goal and five assists Wednesday. For the season, Minnesota defensemen are tied for the NHL lead with nine goals and 38 points.

"That's our game," Kulikov said. "We try and play as a five-man unit and not separate forwards and defensemen when we're in the offensive zone. Everybody tries to move and everybody is mobile, creating scoring chances for one another. That's how we create success and better chances in the offensive zone."
Kahkonen started in Arizona with an eye on Cam Talbot getting the nod against the Golden Knights. Talbot was outstanding against Vegas last season, especially in the playoffs, where despite a 3-4 record, Talbot posted a 2.45 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage, including a pair of shutouts.
Vegas began a six-game homestand last time out on Tuesday when it secured a 4-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken.
With the teams locked in a 1-1 game late in the second period, Seattle's Yanni Gourde scored with 31 seconds remaining to give the Kraken the lead. But Evgenii Dadonov evened the scored 15 seconds later, and Reilly Smith scored twice in the first 1:16 of the third to provide Vegas with all the offense it would need.
Robin Lehner made 25 saves to earn the victory.
With last year's Vezina Trophy winner Marc-Andre Fleury now in Chicago, Lehner has taken over as the full-time starter for the Knights. He enters play Thursday riding a personal three-game winning streak, having allowed just five goals total during that stretch.
On the season, Lehner is 6-5-0 with a 2.72 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.

Vegas is without a number of its top-end players, including captain Mark Stone, who returned to practice on Tuesday for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury in the second game of the season Oct. 14. He won't play Thursday.
Max Pacioretty will miss a few more weeks of action because of a lower-body fracture he sustained last month.
The newly acquired Jack Eichel is scheduled to have disc replacement surgery on Friday and will miss three months.
Without Stone and Pacioretty, and with Eichel still 12 weeks or more away from making his Knights debut, Chandler Stephenson has stepped up offensively. He leads the club with eight assists and 13 points. Jonathan Marchessault has a team-high six goals.
Related:
- Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 5, Coyotes 2